British news publisher the Guardian said on Wednesday (Nov 13) it will no longer post on X, citing “disturbing content” on the social media platform, including racism and conspiracy theories.
The left-leaning Guardian, which has 10.7 million followers on X, becomes the first large UK media company to retreat from the platform that Elon Musk purchased in 2022.
Critics say Musk’s hands-off approach has allowed lies and hate speech to spread on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere,” the Guardian said in an editorial published on its website.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.”
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: That X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
The paper’s main X handle – @guardian – was still accessible on Wednesday but a message on it advised “this account has been archived” while redirecting visitors to its website.
The Guardian noted that X users would still be able to share its articles and that it would still “occasionally embed content from X” within its articles given “the nature of live news reporting”.
It also said its reporters would still be able to use the site and other social networks on which the paper does not have an account.
“Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work,” the Guardian added.
